MARIA MERCURIO: I guess to say we're shocked and disappointed would be an understatement. We really were hopeful that finally we had a good, strong code that would help us to stamp out these puppy farms. That door was shut and now the Government's opened it again.

ALISON CALDWELL: Victoria's Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh rejects the concerns and says the state's dog breeding laws are some of the toughest in the world.

PETER WALSH: There is a limit of five litters per dog, unless they have a certificate from a vet, there is significant fines now. There is a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise, twice a day, per dog.

ALISON CALDWELL: Debra Tranter is the founder of the animal welfare group Oscar's Law, which is working to shut down puppy farms.

She says the status quo remains.

DEBRA TRANTER: These dogs can be confined for life, deprived of social interaction and environmental enrichment; and they can just be bred until they cannot breed anymore, and they can be killed.

I'm convinced that it's to protect the commercial interests of the puppy farmers. It was going to cost them too much to de-sex the dog after five litters.

ALISON CALDWELL: The Agriculture Minister here, Peter Walsh, today is saying that Victoria's dog breeding laws remain some of the toughest in the world.

DEBRA TRANTER: Yeah, I completely disagree. I mean, this code is allowing for the caging of the dogs 23 hours a day. The exercise period, they've increased it by 10 minutes, so it's not a significant increase.

We find a lot of vets are on the payroll of these puppy farmers. So a lot of vets don't even go to the puppy farm; they're just filling out paper work in the vet clinic, and the puppy farmers go to pick it up.

So to breed of dog from after five litters, the vets basically just have to tick that box: 'Fit for breeding'.

ALISON CALDWELL: People love dogs. What can they do? How can they be sure that their dog isn't from one of these puppy farms?

DEBRAH TRANTER: Yeah, well we're trying to take the market away from the puppy farmers by educating the public to go to a registered breeder or choose to adopt from a pound, a rescue group or a shelter and just take the market away from these puppy farmers.

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From the Archives

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